Pure grace...

I love Philosophy skincare products. (This is hardly a paid endorsement - Philosophy does not know who I am!) I have sensitive skin and have tried dozens of different products. The Philosophy products suit me. Plus, the packaging and promotion is clever...for example:

This is the cleanser - Purity (made simple).
Lather, rinse - purity. Ah.
And how about this little jewel?


Hope...in a jar?
Yes, please. I'll take some.
Then there's this...


When hope is not enough...This cracks me up...we women of a certain age can relate to this when it comes to a skincare regime! Then it may be time to turn to this:


Ah...a miracle! That should do the trick!
But my favorite Philosophy product by far is not a cream or lotion, but a lovely light scent:


Pure grace...in a bottle! It has a clean, pure, soap-and-water scent that I love. And while none of the skincare products has resulted in anything that can be remotely described as a "miracle," I find spritzing on a little "pure grace" can remind me of a miracle - the miracle of grace. It has not been spritzed, but lavishly poured and I want that scent to emanate from my life...to fill the air around me. I brought that bottle to my Sunday School class and spritzed it around while we talked about one of my favorite verses, 2 Cor. 2:14:

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphant procession in Christ Jesus, and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him."

I reminded the girls, like I try to remind myself, we should walk around smelling like Jesus - like grace...pure grace. It should season our speech:

"Let your conversation be always full of grace,
seasoned with salt,
so that you may know how to answer everyone." Col. 4:6

It should keep us humble:

"For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith—
and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God..." Eph. 2:8

It is enough:

"He said to me,
"My grace is sufficient for you..." 2 Cor. 12:9

And as a friend sang last night,

"Grace keeps giving me things I don't deserve;
mercy keeps withholding things I do..."
(Thanks, Wayne Watson!)

We've been given so much...grace has been lavishly poured out upon our lives. Can I extend it, lavishly, generously, to others?
I want to. I want to smell like grace.
Pure grace.

New beginnings...

Well, I took a little bloggy break...and I'm not sure I'm ready to end it. This ol' blog doesn't really know what it wants to be when/if it grows up... (hmmm...kind of like its owner?). Anyway, until I figure out what I'm supposed to do with this space I thought it would be worthwhile to continue to record my Scripture memory journey.

Beth Moore is once again hosting a "Siesta Scripture Memory Team," where some 8,000 women so far have committed to learning two scriptures each month. Amazing, right? To learn more about the team, you can visit Beth's blog here, and see what other sisters (also known as "siestas" on Beth's blog) are learning here and here. I'm not great at it, by any means, but taking a deliberate approach to Scripture memory has been life-altering - seriously. I highly recommend you join in, and, if you are, I'd love to know what you're memorizing and why (former reporter - I'm nosy that way!).

My first scripture for 2011 is almost embarrassing - because it was needed. I hate to admit that I need a holy reminder to put others first but, sadly, it's true. I memorized Philippians 2:3-4 in the ESV translation to try to start the year off right:

"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit
but, in humility,
count others more significant than yourselves.
Let each of you look not only to his own interests,
but also to the interests of others."

Lord, please let my mind and heart be transformed!

For the remainder of January, I'm working on a verse that struck me because I feel a little uncertain about some aspects of my life. (I am crazy about my life, don't get me wrong. I've got it good and I know it!) But things are changing and I want to navigate this season with some grace. I want to be "at the center of God's love - arms open and outstretched, ready..." as one of last year's verses stated. So, for whatever reason, Psalm 143:8 struck me:

"Let the morning bring me word
of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul."

I also really, really love the Amplified Bible translation of this verse:

"Cause me to hear
Your loving-kindness in the morning,
for on You do I lean and in You do I trust.
Cause me to know
the way wherein I should walk,
for I lift up my inner self to You."

Cause me to know - as I lift my inner self to You.

Arms open and outstretched...

I'm having kind of a bumpy fall, so far. I feel a little off-balance for some reason...nostalgic, fragile, emotional. Some of that is probably the inevitable let-down after the crazy rush and push of a harvest season. Some of it may be due to the intense season of study in which I've immersed myself -- the highs and lows that come with some authentic spiritual revelation. This is also "back-to-school" time, which means something completely different when your "children" are now "adults." My baby turned 20 last week. My baby! How did this happen?

So I'm trying to find balance. My natural inclination is to straighten up, shake it off, slap a smile on my face and soldier on. (Any other firstborns out there?) But lately, I've been giving myself permission to experience whatever season I find myself in. Not that I plan to wallow in melancholy, but I'm not going to deny it either. When irrepressible joy bubbles up (as it always does) I'm not going to squelch it - I'm going to revel in it. I don't want to miss the lessons of each season.

I read a passage in The Message translation the other day that tied together a lot of things I've experienced in recent weeks so I've chosen to memorize it - Jude 1:20-21a.

"But you, dear friends,
carefully build yourselves up
in this most holy faith
by praying in the Holy Spirit,
staying right at the center of God's love,
keeping your arms open and outstretched,
ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ."

Carefully build yourself up in the faith - by praying, staying in the center of God's love. I love the picture of "arms open and outstretched" -- ready to receive mercy, but also to dispense it.

I pray for God's blessing and mercy on you -- as you fully experience this season of life.

Do you not know?

This is a very familiar passage, but one I've never fully committed to memory. When I was running, I did recite verse 31 repeatedly to myself when I felt "faint!"

Last night, almost three weeks into a pretty grueling corn harvest season (temperatures exceeding 100 degrees, lethal dust, relentless monotony, late nights) I was feeling particularly weary and discouraged. I turned to Isaiah 40 for comfort - and found it. So I'm memorizing this passage for the last two weeks of August:

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31

I love the reminder that we cannot fathom God's wisdom - it's "unsearchable" as the ESV translation states. He is God. I am not. What a relief! And HE chooses, because of who He is, to renew our strength, to increase our power, to keep us from growing weary and faint...when we hope in Him.

Thank you, Lord!

Overflowing with hope...

May the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace
as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow with hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

This is my memory verse for the first part of August (I forgot to post my verse from the end of July...I used a portion of Ezekiel 40:4 as camp preparation - "...look with your eyes and hear with your ears and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why I brought you here..." Good one, huh?)

Anyway, I was looking around for an inspirational word tonight - something that would soothe my weary soul and something that I could share with others needing a word of encouragement. This verse seems to indicate that very thing by saying that, as we trust in Him, and He fills us with ALL joy and peace, we may overflow with hope. Overflow implies spilling out or bubbling over, impacting others with the joy, peace and hope we have through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Hope. It's a precious thing. Spending a week with over 500 teenagers and almost 200 adults at Cross Camp made me realize it can also be an elusive thing. There was joy, brokenness, surrender, worship...we made much of Jesus all week long. There were also painful stories of lives and homes where hope is lost. These stories have pressed on me in the days since camp ended.

My heart is full...praying for some precious teenagers just trying to live out their faith with some integrity in some difficult situations; while also see-sawing between overwhelming gratitude and a twinge of guilt over how blessed my life has been.

The God of Hope. May He fill us all with all joy and peace as we trust in Him. And may we be faithful to share that blessed hope with others.

Sufficient grace...

Memory verse for July 1...

"But he said to me,
'My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.'
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly
about my weaknesses,
so that Christ's power may rest on me."

2 Cor. 12:9

...inexpressible and glorious joy...

"Though you have not seen him,
you love him;
and even though you do not see him now,
you believe in him and are filled
with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
for you are receiving the goal of your faith,
the salvation of your souls."

I Peter 1:8-9

Memory verses for June...more to come later, but for now, savor that love and belief in Him fill us with an "inexpressible and glorious joy..."